Americas

Both the investment grade and high yield markets in Europe ground to halt on Monday, as the approaching holidays put the brakes on the market and volatility spikes.

Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer Tonon Bioenergia has filed for bankruptcy after many months of battling low prices, and Standard & Poor’s is pessimistic on bondholders’ recovery chances.

Opposition supporters were rejoicing in Venezuela this week after their greatest electoral victory over Chavismo, but the bond market’s reaction was muted as oil plummeted to nearly seven year lows and the scale of the political and economic challenges that lie ahead loomed large.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission will meet on Friday and is expected to propose tough restrictions on the use of derivatives in funds sold to retail investors.

Intercontinental Exchange expects to complete its acquisition of Interactive Data Corporation early next week, having received all regulatory approvals.

Investors showed their lack of risk appetite for long dated paper from energy companies after Marathon Petroleum was forced to widen pricing on a 30 year tenor.

The M&A financing frenzy that propelled the US corporate bond market to record issuance this year is showing no signs of slowing, with bankers expecting more of the same in 2016. This week it was Visa's turn to round off what has been a stupendous year for jumbo deals by making its dollar debut with a blockbuster $16bn trade. David Rothnie reports.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce took advantage of a back-up in three year euro swap yields following the European Central Bank meeting last week to issue a covered bond of the same tenor.

Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, the US securities business of MUFG, has started US equity research coverage this week, with a new team consisting of four analysts. Coverage will focus on energy, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and technology.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has dropped proposals to ban banks from using agency ratings in their internal risk-weighted asset models, a move which could save the industry the job of raising billions in extra capital.

The IMF changed the weighting formula for its Special Drawing Rights basket ahead of the inclusion of the renminbi last month. However, using the old SDR formula to determine Chinese currency’s weight would have been preferable, according to a former IMF official.

Bolivia’s budget for 2016 includes a $1bn bond issue to finance the construction of hospitals, finance minister Luis Arce said at a press conference in the capital, La Paz.